The Duty to MiscegenatePosted in Dissertations, Media Archive, Philosophy on 2013-10-24 22:21Z by Steven |
University of Michigan
152 pages
2013
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Philosophy)
In ‘The duty to miscegenate’, I harness John Stuart Mill’s 19th century theory of social freedom to explain and to dismantle contemporary racialised and gendered injustice. In the first chapter—Social stigmatisation: ‘a social tyranny’—I argue that persons racialised-and-gendered-as-black-women were, in the past, unjustly stigmatised by legal penalties against ‘miscegenation‘ and are still, today, unjustly stigmatised by white male avoidance of cross-racial marriage and companionship. In the second chapter—Encounters that count: ‘a foundation for solid friendship’—I argue that we can dismantle this stigmatisation, by engaging in regular and frequent cross-racial commensality with persons racialised-and-gendered-as-black-women. In the third chapter—White right: ‘a right to avoid’—I argue that, although we have a right to avoid commensal encounters with others, we do not have a right to avoid persons we racialise as black. On the contrary, we have a duty to encounter them, on terms of equality and intimacy.
Table of Contents
- DEDICATION
- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
- LIST OF TABLES
- 1. Social stigmatisation: ‘a social tyranny’
- The chief mischief of the legal penalties
- They strengthen the social stigma
- 2. Encounters that count: ‘a foundation for solid friendship’
- The real remedy for breaking caste is inter-marriage
- Another plan of action for the abolition of caste is to begin with inter-caste dinners
- 3. White right: ‘a right to avoid’
- We have a right to avoid it
- A right to avoid blacks?
- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Read the entire dissertation here.